Off Road?/Altitude--Colorado Mountains?

[diver110]

I like to do some mild offroading in CO (e.g. Yankee Boy Basin, Last Dollar, etc. for those who know the state). Mostly rough forest roads as opposed to out on a trail. Can I do that in an X? Is there a skid plate option? I gather from the website that the Y is (at least in some configurations) able to go offroad….

Currently I have a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. I got the turbo in part because I spend a fair amount of time in the CO mountains. While the turbo is definitely a plus, there is still a significant performance drop in the mountains compared to sea level. I have read that a Tesla, because it does not use air as such, does not suffer a performance drop. Is that true?

Many thanks.

 

[ecarfan]

Can I do that in an X? Is there a skid plate option?

There is no such option from Tesla. You can set the Smart Air Suspension on high, but personally I would not drive a Tesla on extremely rough roads with lots of rocks at anything but a very low speed. But if you are just driving on a rough gravel road I think an S or X is fine.

Since EVs do not require air to combust fuel, altitude has no adverse effect on their performance. In fact, lower air pressure means less aerodynamic drag so EVs are more efficient at altitude; they use less stored energy in the battery to cover a defined distance than they would at sea level.

EVs have exactly the same power at high altitude as they do at low altitude, unlike ICE cars which definitely suffer a power loss at altitude.

 

[diver110]

Thanks, ecar. That was sort of my sense, though there are some youtube videos of the X offroad…..does not make it smart, of course. While the offroading I do counts as mild, one can still "bottom out." Is there much to damage on an X?

 

[Ron95030]

As mentioned, that's why the PPIHC (Pikes Peak International Hill Climb) event record was set by an EV last year. Volkswagen and their ID.R did a nice job! Driven by Romain Dumas in 2018.

 

[diver110]

Great video!

 

[StealthP3D]

I
Currently I have a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. I got the turbo in part because I spend a fair amount of time in the CO mountains. While the turbo is definitely a plus, there is still a significant performance drop in the mountains compared to sea level. I have read that a Tesla, because it does not use air as such, does not suffer a performance drop. Is that true?

Absolutely! At higher speeds at high altitude, you will feel the car accelerates harder since the air is not holding it back so much. At lower speeds, it will accelerate the same way it does at sea-level with none of that high-altitude power loss that comes with the territory when you drive a gasoline car.

 

[ajdelange]

The only detriment brought about by altitude that I can think of is that less dense air has reduced ability to carry away heat so that the battery cooling system might have to work a little harder at altitude. This would, of course, be offset by the fact that it is cooler at altitude.

 

[NovemberXray]

I would be comfortable driving my X anywhere I would drive a Cayenne. The X is quite capable and with a completely flat underbelly and heavy 1/4” thick aluminum plating protecting the battery I think you’re as good or better than the cayenne. Obviously with any car off road you risk damage, but I think the X is as good or better than other unmodified vehicles in its class. If you want to do rock crawling get an old Jeep, but the X should take you everywhere you want to go.

 

[ecarfan]

While the offroading I do counts as mild, one can still "bottom out." Is there much to damage on an X?

In my opinion, it is never a good idea to have the underside of a vehicle impact the road surface or obstacles in the road. Your Porsche can certainly be damaged if that happens, as can a Tesla or any other car.

If you are hitting something while driving on an unsaved road, in my opinion you are going too fast and are risking damage to your vehicle. Slow down.

When towing my trailer with my X I have on occasion been on very rough gravel roads, with ruts and rocks. I go very slowly, 10mph or less.

 

[diver110]

I drove the X today and checked out the underbelly. There is a titanium casing around the battery which should be able to handle mild offroading. A plus is the air suspension. Of course, that leaves the issue if I want to drive an $88,000 car offroad...

 

[ajdelange]

A competitor will be offering an $88,000 (or thereabouts) vehicle intended to be driven off road soon. Still a good question, though.

 

[Yinn]

I drove the X today and checked out the underbelly. There is a titanium casing around the battery which should be able to handle mild offroading. A plus is the air suspension. Of course, that leaves the issue if I want to drive an $88,000 car offroad...

You answered your own question. The entire underside is encased in plastic, more for aerodynamics but that's your first protective layer from loose debris. After that, you have the entire battery pack in titanium. Although strong; if punctured it's a pain and costly to get replaced. On the Cayenne, the skid plate isn't impenetrable, but the advantage is it's resistant to minor impacts and is cheap and easy to replace should it be dented (more in general as it's still pricey on the Cayenne!)

$88,000 cars go off road all the time. Land Rovers were built to do just that. The parade of Jeep Wrangler's in MOAB starts at $51,000 and easily tops that with aftermarket modifications.

I'm not familiar with the roads you listed, so I googled it.

I wouldn't think twice. Those are fire gravel roads to me and I drive them daily in my X. I wouldn't plan on making a left or right off the road, but X will handle it otherwise with ease.